Angel
by iluvaqt
Summary: Post Salvation S9E22. The waiting is torture enough but it's the unknown that scares her more. Someone other-worldly has plans for our heroes.


**Title:** Angel  
**Author:** iluvaqt  
**Rating:** PG  
**Summary:** The waiting is torture enough but it's the unknown that scares her more. Someone other-worldly has plans for our heroes.  
**Status:** Complete one-shot  
**Spoilers:** Set post-Salvation S09E22. Possible S10 spoilers.**  
Disclaimer:** I do not own Smallville, nor do I claim to own any other characters therefore owned by DC comics.  
**Notes: **For Chlollie, who wanted a Chlollie follow-up to Salvation. If you didn't like this, it's all on her because I wasn't planning on writing anything for it. This hasn't been beta-ed.

* * *

When Oliver's green dot went out, and the fast moving heat signatures disappeared from the facility, Chloe had to fight to stay calm. She knew it had been too early to celebrate a win. Since when did anything ever come easy for them. They were in the middle of a war. She wished she had a clone of herself so she could be running searches, directing the team and figuring out what Oliver meant when he said, "they're not Kandorian," right before she lost him, in tandem.

Her heart was racing, and she felt faint but kept a firm mental mantra going that she would not fall apart. The team needed her. Clark had trusted them to be able to band together, to keep fighting after he was gone. She looked up at one of the monitors. The crystal station on top of Clark's lookout post was still active.

"Manhunter, how far are you from the..."

"I'm already here, Watchtower. I've deactivated the portal. Boyscout is still with us. Barely."

"Radio back as soon as he's stable. We've got another problem."

"Understood."

"Star Girl, how fast can you get to this location? Sending to your PDA now. Go in hot, Arrow is in trouble. He said it wasn't the Kandorians."

"I'm here. There's no sign of Arrow. This place is a mess. Scorch marks on the floor, broken glass... Wait, I found a radio and they smashed his communicator.

Chloe heaved a breath. She suspected as much, at least that's what she'd hoped. That they'd taken him captive and not killed him. "Can you tap into the information feed for the building. Can you see anything?"

"Plugging into the light stream..."

Chloe waited with baited breath.

"There was a serious spike in energy flow about two minutes ago. I'll see if I can follow the source."

"No, wait for back up. Impulse and Hawkman are on their way. Stay on site."

"Watchtower, Boyscout suffered a serious injury, he's unconscious but stable for now."

"Are you all caught up?" Chloe asked Emil, who'd just appeared on video link aside from being on his communicator during the whole crisis.

"Manhunter is running diagnostics on my system. Thanks for the new link up by the way."

"You can thank Arrow when we get him back," Chloe said with a hint of a smile.

"There were two portals open around the same time. Star Girl is correct. It originated from inside the facility."

"Hawkman, here. I know what left this. The patterns are specific. It's a boom tube. Someone used a mother box. Arrow's right. We're not dealing with aliens here. This was the hand of Darkseid."

"Dark-who?"

"It has begun," J'onn said in a resigned voice.

"One war averted and someone's ready to start another one?" Chloe said with a groan.

"It is as I counseled him before. There are more players than he accounted for but we are ready. He is ready."

"Manhunter, ordinarily I don't mind your cryptic sound-bytes, but according to Doc, Boyscout's in no shape to be doing anything."

There was a gust of wind and Chloe palmed the control desk. She could tell the different between their appearances now. Impulse was slightly softer in his approach, lighter on his feet. His stops were smoother, he effected less of the space and airflow around him. If he wanted to, he could move so fast that you wouldn't know if he'd moved at all. So she knew exactly who was standing behind her, and it wasn't Bart. She wasn't ready to face him, she thought they had said goodbye forever. She'd accepted that his journey would continue on another plane of existence. As impossibly difficult as it had been to say, she knew convincing him had been the right thing to do. Her heart wanted him around forever, she wasn't ready to give up her best friend. She never had been. Now only minutes ago, she'd learned he'd been left behind. Somehow, he hadn't been taken by the portal but instead he was critically wounded.

Clark put a hand on her shoulder and Chloe turned. Her eyes widened and she couldn't stop the chuckle that boiled up from her chest. She put it down to both her tightly strung nerves, and his unexpected appearance. "What on earth are you wearing?"

Clark cracked a cheeky grin. He'd slicked his hair back and he'd tried on the suit his mom had left for him. It felt right considering he knew where his destiny lay from here on out. He'd been ready to leave them all behind; his friends, his family, his soul mate but in the end Jor-El had been right. He was Earth's protector, he would lead them with strength, and even though his people were gone, he didn't feel alone. He had a human family. And they were looking to him right now to lead. "Let's go rescue Oliver."

For the first time in over a year, Chloe threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged her friend, the tall, overgrown male that he was. It was an impulse that she's always held in check before, feeling awkward and uncertain around him. Seeing his easy smile, his relaxed posture. She finally felt like they were on equal footing again. Dressed in that skin-tight, blue, red and gold outfit, he looked a little ridiculous but overall and most importantly - he looked heroic. The hero she always imagined he'd be and she needed the hope that he instilled to keep her going, till she had her Ollie back.

"I know how to open the portal again. The one that leads to Apokolips. But know this friends, it might be a fool's mission. The Furies rarely take prisoners. If Darksied is planning an invasion of Earth, he might be using Arrow for intelligence. In which case he might be near impossible to rescue. We have to put together a stealth team. We won't win a fight on their turf."

"How are you going to open the portal?" Chloe asked.

"Gotta see an old friend."

She could almost hear his smile. The way he said friend implied that it wasn't the type of friendly working relationship they all shared. "Keep in contact."

"Will do."

.  
**On another world**

Oliver felt the chains biting into his wrists that held his arms spread. These she-devils dressed in next to nothing were taking great pleasure in beating on him.

And his witty brand of charm seemed completely lost on them.

He could feel his body seizing up against the onslaught, his left eye was already practically welded shut.

They didn't even say what they wanted from him. If anything other than using his as a punching bag.

He focused on keeping his breathing steady and deep, if the place smelt like sulfur and ash, which stung his nostrils every time he sucked in air. Chloe. Chloe would be worry herself sick.

In his minds eye, he could see her rushing around the tower, kicking chairs out of the way, yanking open drawers, sounding out orders to their team, keeping everyone on task, while pushing herself to her limits. His hero. His stubborn, snarky, golden-haired, pocket-sized, caffeine addicted, brilliant minded angel. There wasn't a woman like her, and he almost hadn't told her just how much she meant to him. Again.

Nothing could keep her down. He wondered where her strength came from. Her fighting spirit. Such a tiny woman, so much bottled up in that beautiful package. If there was away out of this, she'd find it. Even if she had to come knocking down these gray stone walls with a sledge hammer herself.

"Love you, Chloe," he said softly, smirking to himself.

"What was that, human?" the scantily clad blonde-haired femme fatale wielding twin swords asked, acid dripping from her voice.

"Wasn't talking to you, blondie."

That remark earned him another slash across the chest. Man, as if he hadn't been marked enough already.

.  
**At Watchtower**

Clark and Carter had left for his 'friend' Big Barda's place hours ago. Since then she hadn't heard a peep out of them. She was going crazy with anxiety. She busied herself, checking security redundancies, upgrading firewalls and searching for city crime to keep the rest of the team busy. News of Tess' body disappearing from Metropolis General only hit her desk long after the fact. By the time J'onn arrived to interview possible witnesses, and she'd acquired video footage, all they had to go on was a short, frail looking woman entering Tess' room and no one coming out again until orderlies went to transfer the body to the morgue, to find the body missing. She had a strange feeling that Tess' death announcement was preemptive. She'd killed Tess herself once before only to bring her back. The woman was remarkably hardy at escaping the reaper.

Chloe was in the process of pouring sugar into her fifth cup of coffee for the night, when that familiar gust of wind blew her hair off her neck. "I hope you have good news, cause I could really use some right now," she said as she turned. "Ollie!"

"Hey Angel."

Cup of coffee forgotten, she raced across to where Oliver stood, supported heavily by Clark. His left eye was swollen shut. And his upper body was a patterned mess of blood, dirt, ash and his vest and undershirt were missing.

"Put him on the couch." She supported Oliver from the other side and helped usher him to the curved lounge chair. He stretched out on his back, his face twisting in pain and she turned away gathering her emotional armor to handle this situation. She pulled an ice pack from the mini fridge and wrapped it in a kitchen towel. Offering it to him, Oliver put it gingerly against his eye. Getting hot water from the coffee machine, she filled a bowl and used another towel to clean the grime of him.

Clark had started opening the first aid kit from under the coffee table - she kept multiple around the tower for emergencies and ready access. Sponge bath completed, Chloe unscrewed a bottle of iodine and dosed a cotton ball with it. Free from dirt, she could see the full extent of his injuries, it made her stomach twist in knots. "Thanks Clark. You might want to check in with J'onn. Tess is missing." Not looking up to see if he acknowledged her or not, she touched the ball to a particularly ugly looking welt on his chest. He sucked in air and let out a shuddering breath but didn't complain.

Chloe blinked back tears and squinted at the cut she was cleaning. She wouldn't get emotional. He was alive. Beaten but not broken. Her world wasn't ending. He was right here with her.

She cleaned the last wound and began cutting lengths of gauze and sticky strips, when he took her wrist. With his one clear brown eye trained on her face, Chloe let the tears fall. "I thought I might have lost you," she said softly.

Oliver cracked a warm smile and rubbed his thumb along her bottom lip. "They've gotta do better than steal me off to a hell planet, chain me up and torture me to keep me away from you, Chloe."

"Do we know what they're planning?"

Oliver grimaced as he sat up and instead of protesting his movements she helped him and then crouched in-front of him. Oliver shook his head. "We had a run in with the big boss, escaping. He seemed impressed to see the trail of destruction, Bad-ass she-ninja, Clark and Carter made coming to get me. He said he had big plans for us. Whatever that was supposed to mean."

"Well whatever it is, when I find out who's idea it was to torture you, I'll happily kick their ass."

"And if it was a little old lady?" Oliver asked with a smirk.

Chloe snorted. "Appearances are often deceiving. Little old lady or not, if you scar again, she's going down," Chloe said careening over to touch her nose to his. "So I hear you might love me?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Oliver smiled and threaded his fingers into her hair, anchoring her where she was. "I do, and somehow, by some miracle of fate, divine intervention or magic," he said his lips twitching with a smirk, "Did I hear you say you love me too?"

Chloe kissed him thoroughly, carefully avoiding his shoulders by leaning on her hands on the sofa behind him. "Yes, and shhhh," she said pulling back with a wink. "Let's get you fixed up and I'll show you just how much."

Oliver patted her behind as she stood to walk away. She turned and flashed him a saucy grin before tugging him up from the couch. He stumbled at first, and she slipped under his arm to help him walk.

"This isn't going to get any easier is it?" she said with a frown, chewing down on her bottom lip.

"If it helps any, I don't try to get caught by the bad guys," Oliver said with a sharp hiss when several of the cuts stretched open with movement.

"I know. It's the sucky part of the job."

"I don't know," he said a smirk gracing his lips. "You make a very cute nurse."

Chloe tilted her head back and gave him a glittering wide smile. "I'll be anything you want Mr. Queen, if you promise to stay out of trouble long enough to play."

Oliver dipped his head and kissed her, pulling back slightly, he buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in. "Anything for you, Chloe. Always."


End file.
